Schumer, a member of the Democratic leadership, said the bottom line
for Democrats is that they prefer a bipartisan bill, but may not be
able to get one. If they can’t, he said they’ll try to move a bill on
the backs of the 60 Democrats in the Senate, while hoping to pick off a
GOP vote here or there.

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“At some point after we get back, if we don’t have a bipartisan
bill, we’ll never be able to meet the goal of having a bill singed into
law by the end of the year, so yes, we are considering alternatives,”
Schumber said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He said those alternatives include “just getting 60 Democratic votes
and maybe an occasional Republican here or there,” as well as the use
of special Senate budget reconciliation rules that would require only
51 votes to move healthcare.

Schumer’s comments suggest Democratic leaders are starting to look to
an endgame on health reform, which has dominated the political debate
for months. It also could provide a shot in the arm to liberals in the
party who have been frustrated with efforts by the Senate and White
House to win GOP support for the bill.

Liberals have questioned why Democrats don’t try to push through
healthcare legislation on the backs of their own members given their
control of the White House and Congress.

“We are not looking at the alternatives because it is looking less and
less likely that certainly the Republican leadership in the House and
Senate will look at a bipartisan bill,” said Schumer, who mentioned
comments this week by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

Kyl, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, this week said he didn’t
think a single Republican in the House or Senate would support the
legislation moved in the House, or a bill moved by the Senate health
committee.

Schumer said Democratic options also include some combination, Schumer
said. That would involve requiring 60 votes for some parts of
healthcare reform, and using the special rules to move more
controversial parts of legislation, such as a public health insurance
option prized by liberals and opposed by Republicans and some centrist
Democrats.

One problem for Democrats is the health of some of their members. Sens.
Edward Kennedy (Mass.) and Robert Byrd (W.Va.) are both ailing, and
it’s not clear that their votes can be counted on. Kennedy, who is
battling brain cancer, this week sent a letter
to Massachusetts leaders asking them to change state laws so that there
would not be a vacancy in the Senate for a lengthy period of time if
Kennedy dies.

The best chance for a healthcare bill to win support from both
Republicans and Democrats might come from the Senate Finance Committee,
which is struggling to put together a bipartisan bill. Two of the six
members of that panel who are trying to negotiate that compromise
talked down the prospects of using budget reconciliation.

"It's an option, it's available. But as I've argued for many months, it
does not work very well," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on CBS’s “Face
the Nation”. He also said using the special rules could result in
incomplete legislation, since the budget rules might not be able to be
used to move some parts of the healthcare bill.

Conrad said the key to moving healthcare reform is cost, and that the
bills before the House and Senate will have to cost "significantly
less" than what has been proposed if they are to pass through Congress.

The $1 trillion price tags placed on bills passed by House committees
and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee
are probably too much, Conrad signaled during an appearance on CBS's
"Face the Nation."

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"It's going to have to be significantly less than what we've
heard talked about," Conrad said of the conditions for a final bill to
make it out of Congress.

Conrad has spoken out against the public option, and has said there are
not enough votes in the Senate to pass it. But Schumer on Sunday said
including a public option is vital to reducing the long-term costs of
healthcare.